Delivery mechanisms for printing machines



April 19, 1955 w. HUCK DELIVERY MECHANISMS FOR PRINTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed March 4. 1947 m H N $5 IWAW April 9, 1955 w. F. HUCK DELIVERY MECHANISMS FOR PRINTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed March 4, 1947 INVENTOR \NlLL/A M F Huck 52105 ATTORNEY United States Patent DELIVERY MECHANISMS FOR PRINTING MACHINES William F. Huck, Forest Hills, N. Y., assignor to Huck (30., New York, N. Y., a partnership Original application March 4; 1947, Serial No. 732,247. Divided and this application January 16, 1951, Serial No. 206,159

8 Claims. (Cl. 270-72) This invention relates to high speed web printing machines and more particularly to delivery mechanisms, by which one or more printed products can be delivered at slow speed from a high speed printing machine.

Devices of this general character have heretofore been used, but their design and method of operation have left much to be desired. For example, the prior art mechanisms of this character have not been entirely satisfactory because of one or more of the following undesirable features, viz: small holes were punched in the product, and the mechanism had inefficient means for controlling the product during the transition operation from high folding speed to slow delivery speed.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved slow speed delivery mechanism that can advantageously be used with modern high speed printing machines of the type that are generally used to print newspapers, magazines and other printed products and which will not have the above undesirable features.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved delivery mechanism.

This application is a division of a patent application filed by me on March 4, 1947, Serial No. 732,247, now Patent No. 2,659,437.

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross sectional view taken substantially on the longitudinal center line of a printing machine and showing cutting, folding, and delivery mechanisms, the latter delivery mechanism embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing portions of the mechanism as seen in the direction of the arrows and taken substantially along a lower portion of the broken line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3 and 4 show a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, this invention has been shown in one preferred form in Figs. 1 and 2 as applied to a delivery mechanism for printing machines.

Numerals 11 and 11' indicate a pair of spaced side frames for supporting a plurality of rods, rollers and cylinders that form the cutting, folding and delivery mechanisms of a printing machine. While portions of cutting and folding mechanisms have been illustrated in Fig. 1, it will be understood that the cutting and folding portions of the printing machine form the subject of the, hereinbefore mentioned, patent application Serial No. 732,247, now Patent No. 2,659,437, and that the delivery mechanisms form the subject of the present invention. In view of this, the cutting and folding will only be referred to briefly and, sufiice it to say, that the printing machine includes a first rotatable propelling roller 12, second and third rotatable propelling rollers 13 and 14, a rotatable cutting roller 15, a rotatable collecting cylinder 16, a rotatable folding cylinder 17, a rotatable slowdown roller 18, a pair of non-rotatable stationary rods 19 and 20 for carrying a pair of paper guides 21 and 22, and a plurality of pivotally mounted adjusting shafts 23, 23' and 23".

A web W (indicated by heavy broken lines), which may be a single web or a plurality of collated webs, is, in a manner well known in the art, propelled by rollers 12, 13 and 14 and the cooperating collecting cylinder 16.

As the web W passes beyond the roller 14, it is acted upon by coacting cutting knives 35 and 36, the collecting cylinder 16 supporting three knives 36, whereas, the cutting cylinder 15 supports two knives 35. It will be understood that the cylinders 15 and 16 are driven in a manner and at such speeds that one of the knives 35 will always coact with one of the knives 36.

After the knives 35 and 36 have severed the web W, grippers 47 close to press the leading edge W1 of the web against the trailing side of the knife 36. Preferably the grippers will remain closed for the remainder of the revolution of the cylinder 16, opening only at a point just prior to the cutting operation, the sheet being pulled from the grippers while they are closed.

In addition to the above, the cylinder 16 carries three sets of flexible folding blades 59. The blades 59 cooperate with two sets of jaw seats 61 and jaw blades 62 carried one-hundred eighty degrees apart on the folding cylinder 17, the seat 61 being held in place by a bolt 58. As the center Sc of the sheet S, or collated sheets, which are held to the cylinder 16 by grippers 47, arrives at the bite between cylinders 16 and 17, one of the jaw blades 62 gradually folds the paper around the folding blade 59 and finally presses this folded edge against the jaw seat 61, thereby, securing the center fold of the cut sheet S upon the cylinder 17. Each jaw blade 62 is pivotally carried on the cylinder 17 by being secured to a pivotally mounted shaft 66 and each blade 62 may or may not protrude slightly above the surface of the cylin der 17. The shaft 66 carries an abutment arm 86 and a cam arm 65, the latter supporting a cam roller 64. The shaft 66 and the blade 62 are under control of the cam roller 64, which rides in a cam groove 63 supported from the frame 11. The travel of the jaws 61-62 around the cylinder 17 carries the sheet or sheets with them and pulls the leading edge S1 of the sheet from the grasp of grippers 47. In Fig. 1, it will be noted, that the pull on the sheet by the jaws 61-62 tends to open the gripper 47. This is because the pull of the sheet on the gripper blade 47 is exerted at approximately right angles thereto and in such a direction as to flex the blade to the open position. As the cylinder 17 continues to turn and carry with it the folded portion of the sheet, the leading edge S1 and the trailing edge St of the cut sheet or sheets become lined up or collinear.

The cylinder 17, in addition to the jaws 61-62, also carries a pair of slow-down rollers 70, these being spaced one-hundred eighty degrees (180) apart around the cylinder. Each roller 70 is rotatably driven, by gears presently to be described, to rotate in such direction that their peripheral surfaces will move in a direction opposite to that in which the peripheral surface of the cylinder 17 moves. This results in a surface, carried by the cylinder 17, that in relation to a fixed point, moves slower than does the surface of the said cylinder 17. The roller 18, that is driven at a peripherial speed of approximately one-eighth (M5) the peripherial speed of the cylinder 17, cooperates with the pair of rollers 70, and, in the pre ferred mechanism, the relative peripherical or surface speed of a point on the cylinder 70 is equal to the surface speed of the roller 18 when the two are adjacent one another. The roller 18 is spaced from the surface of the cylinder 17 a sufficient distance so that the surface of the roller 18 does not contact the surface of the cylinder 17. In fact, this spacing is of such magnitude that the folded product S can pass between the surfaces of the cylinder 17 and the roller 18 without being pressed therebetween except when one of the rollers 70 is opposite the roller 18. Thus, when one of the rollers 70 and the roller 18 are opposite each other they pinch the collinear trailing edge or tail StSl of the folded product with firm contact and due to their relatively slow speeds they pull the leading folded edge So of the product from the fast moving jaws 6162, which at the proper instant are opened by the action of the cam 63. Thus the folded product is slowed down to approximately one-eighth A) of its original speed, and since the product is slowed down only by the rollers 18 and. 70 acting on the trailing or rear unprinted margin thereof, the product is in no way damaged, cut or punctured as is the case in many prior art devices. The position of the roller 18 can be adjusted laterally with respect to the cylinder 17 and the rollers 70. This is accomplished by a pair of eccentric bearing bushings 71 and 72, the shaft 23" and a handle 24 in much the same way as the rollers 13 and 14 are adjusted with respect to the cylinder 16. When the slowed down product is released from the bite of the rollers 70 and 18, it drops at slow speed upon a belt conveyor 56 that is driven it slow speed and in either direction desired by a motor )1 other means, not here shown.

The various rollers and cylinders, hereinbefore de- ;cribed, are driven in the following manner. A main lrive gear 73 is driven by a motor or other prime mover {not shown), and this gear is in mesh with a gear 74 :hat is keyed to a shaft 75 that mounts one end of the folding cylinder 17. The opposite end of the cylinder 17 has a hollow shaft 75 which has secured to it a pinion 76 that is in mesh with a gear 77 keyed to a shaft 78 for the roller 18. Keyed to this same shaft 78 1s a gear 81 that meshes with a pinion 80 keyed to the end of a shaft 79 rotatably and coaxially carried through the hollow center of the shaft 75 and the pinion 76. Internal of the folding cylinder 17, the shaft 79 carries a gear 82 that is in mesh with a pair of pinions 83 carried on the end of shafts 8484 for the two slow down rollers 70-70. The gear 74, in addition to driving the shaft 75, meshes with and drives a gear 87 that drives the collecting cylinder 16, and the gear 87 also drives the cutting roller 15', and the rollers 13 and 14. The driving cylinders and rollers are rotated in directions as indicated by arrows in Fig. 1, and the peripherical or surface speed of all the driven cylinders and rollers, except rollers 18 and 70, are equal.

It is frequently the practice to imprint a web W, so that the printed matter is repeated. When this is done, it becomes desirable to use the cylinder 17 as a collecting cylinder as well as a folding cylinder. In the mechanism of this invention, this is accomplished by rendering one of the jaws 61-62 inoperative by removing one of the cam rollers 64 from its arm 65, and at the same time locking the inactivated jaw 62 in an open position below the surface of the cylinder 17 by placing a pin 85 in the way of the abutment 86 formed integral with the arm 65. Thus, when the center S of a first printed sheet S that is held to the cylinder 16 by the grippers 47 passes the inoperative jaws 61-62, the sheet S will not be pinched by these jaws but will continue around the cylinder 16, being held by the grippers 47. Furthermore, this sheet will not be damaged or folded by blades 59. As the leading edge S1 of the first printed sheet arrives between the rollers 12 and the cylinder 16, it is positioned under and becomes aligned with a leading portion W1 of the web W that is to become the leading edge S1 of aprinted sheet or a plurality of collated printed sheets. The web W and the first printed sheet S then pass under rollers 13, 14, and past the cutting knives 35 and 36. Thereafter the first and now second printed sheets are simultaneously gripped by grippers 47 When the plural sheets arrive at the opposite set of jaws 61-62 from the inactivated ones, all sheets are removed from the cylinder, as hereinbefore set forth for the sheet S when only one sheet was being gripped.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate a second preferred embodiment of the invention, which is identical with the previously described mechanism, except that the roller 18 and its adjusting mechanism is replaced by a stationary stopplate 101 having a paper contacting shoe 102. The plate 101 is secured to an adjusting shaft 103 by a plurality of bolts 104, only one of which is shown in the drawings. The shaft 103 is pivotally supported between the two side frames 11 and 11' and has keyed to it an adjusting lever 106. The lever 106 is adjustably held between a pair of adjusting screws 107 that are threaded into bosses 108, protruding from one of the side frames of the machine. In this embodiment of the invention, the rollers 70, carried on the cylinder 17, are driven, by gears (presently to be described) at a peripherial speed equal to and opposite in direction to the surface speed of the cylinder 17 on which they are mounted. This results in the provision on the rotating cylinder 17 of a surface that is stationary relative to the stationary stop-plate 101 and shoe 102, when the said surface is opposite the said shoe 102. Thus, when the trailing unprinted margins St; and S of the sheet S are caught between one of the slow-down rollers 70 and the stationary shoe 102, the folded product S will be pulled from the grip of the jaws 6162, which are opened at this instant by the cam 63 acting on the cam roller 64. This results in the speed of the folded product being reduced. As the roller 70 moves beyond its position opposite the shoe 102, the stationary product S drops onto the conveyor belts 56. The means of driving the rollers 70 is somewhat similar to that previously described. A pinion, not

shown in Fig. 4 but equivalent to pinion 80 of Fig. 2, drives gear 81m which is rotatably mounted on an extension 109 of the adjusting shaft 103. The gear 77111 is likewise rotatably mounted on the extension 109. A pin 111 is threaded through a hole in the gear 81m and into a hole in gear 77m, thereby causing the two gears to rotate in unison. The gear 77m drives a gear, not shown in Fig. 4 but which is equivalent to the gear 76 shown in Fig. 2, and from this point on the two drives for the rollers 70 are similar except for the speed ratios previously described.

While I have illustrated and described two preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that the invention may be otherwise embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a delivery mechanism for delivering printed products; a collecting cylinder rotating counterclockwise; a folding cylinder rotating clockwise; a flexible folding blade carried by said collecting cylinder; gripping means carried by said folding cylinder and arranged to receive products folded by said folding blade; a first slow-down roller carried by said folding cylinder; driving means for rotating said first slow-down roller in a counterclockwise direction; a second slow-down roller; means for rotatably mounting said second slow-down roller adjacent to said folding cylinder, and thus adjacent to said first slow-down roller when said first slow-down roller is opposite said second slow-down roller; and driving means for rotating said second slow-down roller in a counterclockwise direction.

2. A delivery mechanism in accordance with claim 1 in which the peripheral speed of said slow-down rollers is approximately one-eighth of the peripheral speed of said folding cylinder.

3. In a delivery mechanism for use with high speed printing machines, a rotatably mounted folding cylinder, a gear for driving said folding cylinder at high speed, a hollow shaft formed on one end of said folding cylinder, a pinion secured to said hollow shaft, :1 rotatably supported shaft, a gear secured to said rotatably supported shaft and in driving mesh with said pinion, a second gear secured to said rotatably supported shaft, an internal shaft rotatably and coaxially carried through the hollow shaft of the folding cylinder, a pinion secured to said internal shaft and driven by said second gear secured to said rotatably supported shaft, a first slow-down roller rotatably carried internally of said folding cylinder and driven by said internal shaft, a second slow-down roller carried and driven by said rotatably supported shaft, and means mounting said rotatably supported shaft to position said second slow-down roller adjacent to said folding cylinder and said first slow-down roller.

4. In a delivery mechanism for use with high speed printing machines, a rotatably mounted folding cylinder, a gear for driving said folding cylinder in a predetermined direction and at a predetermined peripheral speed, a hollow shaft formed on one end of said folding cylinder, a pinion secured to said hollow shaft, a rotatably supported shaft, a pair of gears secured to said rotatably supported shaft, one of said pair of gears meshing with the pinion on said hollow shaft, an internal shaft rotatably and coaxially carried through the hollow shaft of said folding cylinder, means for driving said internal shaft from the other of said pair of gears, a first slow-down roller rotatably carried internally of said folding cylinder, means for driving said first slow-down roller from said internal shaft in a direction opposite to the direction of said folding cylinder and at a peripheral speed that is slower than the peripheral speed of said folding cylinder, a second slowdown roller, means mounting said rotatably supported shaft to position said second slow-down roller adjacent to said folding cylinder and said first slow-down roller, and driving means driving said second slowdown roller from said rotatably supported shaft.

5. In a delivery mechanism for receiving and delivering a product from a high speed printing machine, a rotatably mounted folding cylinder for carrying said product, means for driving said folding cylinder at a high peripheral rate of speed, a hollow shaft on one end of said folding cylinder, a slow-down roller rotatably carried internally of said folding cylinder, means extending through said hollow shaft of said folding cylinder for driving said slow-down roller in a direction opposite to that of said folding cylinder and at a peripheral speed that is less than the peripheral speed of said folding cylinder, driving means driven by said folding cylinder, and means, driven by said last named driving means, and mounted adjacent to said folding cylinder and cooperating with said slow-down roller to grip and slow down said product.

6. A delivery mechanism as set forth in claim 5, in which said means cooperating with said slow-down roller is a roller and in which means is provided for driving said last-named slow-down roller at the same peripheral speed as the slow-down roller set forth in claim 5.

7. In a delivery mechanism for use with high speed printing machines, a rotatably mounted member 1'0- tating at a high peripheral rate of speed, at least one first slow-down roller rotatably mounted on said cylinder, a second slow-down roller, means for rotatably 20 mounting said second slow-down roller adjacent to said rotatably mounted member and thus adjacent to said first slow-down roller, and a means for driving all of said slow-down rollers at peripheral speeds that are slower than the peripheral speed of said cylinder.

8. In a delivery mechanism for use with high speed printing machines, a rotatably mounted perfectly balanced sheet carrying gear driven cylinder rotating at a high peripheral rate of speed, two perfectly balanced slow-down rollers rotatably mounted on said cylinder, another slow-down roller, bearing means rotatably mounting said other slow-down roller close to but at a predetermined distance from said sheet carrying cylinder, and gear means for driving all three of said slow-down rollers at peripheral speeds that are slower than the peripheral speed of said sheet carrying cylinder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS White Dec. 2, 1913 

